At the Chula Vista Dec. 13 City Council meeting, dignitaries and constituents welcomed the city’s new mayor and two new council members to the dais. With the new City Council, District 3 is vacant as former council member Steve Padilla earned his spot as state senator of California Senate District 18.
Newly elected Mayor John McCann was sworn in by his wife, four children and grandchild during the ceremony.
McCann said Chula Vista is a city on the rise, and this has been the result of many mayors, city council members, and community leaders before him, and his service at City Hall since the 1990s.
“As someone who grew up in this community and raised our children here, this means more to me than words can express,” he said. “First, I want to thank the citizens of Chula Vista for me having the great honor as serving as mayor of the city that I love.”
McCann said the city has many challenges now, and with help from the community, it will be a solution in finding ways to solve the problems the city faces.
“I think it is important for us to work together, embrace the diversity of the city so we can find solutions that will work for everyone,” he said.
McCann said he will always place public safety first, and that the city is now one of the safest cities in the county and for two years in a row, the lowest according to SANDAG statistics. McCann said he is committed to helping local businesses and streamlining permit processing, making it more business friendly to attract more quality employers to the city, work to increase more affordable home ownership, and to continue to maintain a balanced budget.
“As mayor, I will protect our taxpayers and prepare the city for the major challenges on the horizon,” he said. “With rising inflation, rising interest rates, slowing growth, increases in layoffs, our city needs to be prepared for an economic downturn…The city is well prepared for the upcoming downturn. But we will continue to have to be responsible fiscally and soundly to make sure we are able to survive the next downturn.”
County Supervisor Nora Vargas held the swearing in ceremony for District 1 Council member Carolina Chavez who promised to be a council member who “is ready and accessible.”
“While I may be occupying this seat at this dais, it is not mine,” she said. “It in fact belongs to all of us who are here today,” saying in reflecting on her past 22 years in the cross-border region, working on economic development, binational affairs, healthcare, and international trade, she is looking forward to serving her community, her city, and the region.
“I stand on the shoulders of trailblazers that came before us who helped pave the way for the representation that you see today,” she said. “The little girl who grew up in the Tijuana/San Diego binational region with big dreams could never have imagined even being here was possible.”
District 2 Council member Jose Preciado, who remained on the dais for his swearing in said as a disabled American he was proud to show this diversity on City Council.
“We have many goals and challenges to meet to serve District 2 residents and the city of Chula Vista,” he said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues and new mayor to set an agenda for our shared success as policy makers and representatives.”
With the death of Simon Silva shortly before elections, and Silva winning the seat by a narrow margin, City Attorney Glen Googins is staying as city attorney until a replacement is elected.
“I am really so proud and honored to have someone from my group to run for this office. And I was truly humbled that it was someone of Simon Silva’s caliber, his extraordinary knowledge of municipal law, his extraordinary knowledge in workings of government. His capacity to be empathetic. To understand the city’s objectives and to translate that into advice. And to do those with the highest degrees of integrity and humility with a temperament perfectly suited for this office,” said Googins.
Silva’s wife Claudia was presented with Simon Silva’s certificate of election.
Googins said Council has some important decisions to make at the Dec. 19 council meeting.
“One of the more significant items on the agenda is the decision regarding the vacant seats and how to approach that,” he said. “The first action you will be asked to declare is the vacant seat for District 3 and the city attorney vacancy. After that, you will be asked to decide whether or not you want to appoint or call a special election to fill the vacant District 3 council seat. The next important action will be to call for the special election for the vacant city attorney seat, and potentially the District 3 council seat depending on how you decide on how you want to fill that seat. Decide when that election will be and what type of election format will be used. You will have the option to choose either a traditional voter site in person format or an all-mail-in ballot format.”
In National City former National City Mayor Ron Morrison was sworn in again as mayor.
Morrison previously served four consecutive terms as a city council member from 1992 through 2006, then three terms as mayor from 2006 through 2018, and just finished a fifth stint on City Council.
He received 3,383 votes in this election, narrowly winning over Jose Rodriguez with 3,315 votes and incumbent Mayor Alejandra Sotelo-Solis with 2,499 votes.
Morrison will serve as Mayor through 2026 alongside newly elected council members Luz Molina and Ditas Yamane, as well as Vice Mayor Marcus Bush and City Council member Jose Rodriguez who will finish their terms in 2024.
Staff writer Jessica Brodkin Webb contributed to this story.
